Ah, the school drop-off. After surviving the very real battle of getting your kids out of the house on time, you then face the pile-up of cars parked on the zig-zags and double-yellows, and sometimes even stopped in the middle of the road to unload their precious cargo outside the primary school gate.
Even more familiar than the rogue 4x4 – engine idling, parent on the phone, kid traipsing in alone – are the endless arguments over thoughtless parking. At my daughter’s school, it’s gets very heated indeed – particularly when there are incidents and near-misses.
A year ago, while pushing my (then) one-year-old son in his buggy across the road, I had to scream loudly to warn a matte-black Jeep careering backwards around the corner that we were in its path. Any faster, or any quieter, and we would’ve been the morning’s headline news.
Provincial and petty a topic as it may seem, the issue of safe school parking isn’t a laughing matter. Get it wrong and it can be dangerous for the very kids who are the reason these frantic parents break the rules in the first place.
Police were recently called to a school in Leicester after parents started dropping their kids off in the middle of the road to get them into school on time.
Headteacher, Gary Aldred, told the Leicester Mercury that mums and dads doing the school run at Abbey Primary Community School had “got into bad habits” – and brought in uniformed officers to speak to parents who were parking unsafely about the risks. Given that forces are overwhelmed with crime and savage funding cuts, officers surely have better things to be doing with their time. So, what else can we do to solve police the school parking problem?
Cardboard Cut-Outs.
Schools in North Yorkshire have employed new recruits to help them spread a ‘safe parking’ message – in the form of cardboard cut-outs of schoolchildren, parents and even a police officer. The signs, bought by the local road safety team, are positioned near the gates and designed to encourage people to park away from the school entrance and not block pavements or roads.
Creating A Charter.
Consider creating a ‘safer schools’ parking charter, such as the one put together by Bury Council. You can download a template online that can be read and signed by parents who drive their children to school. It encourages sticking to rules such as not parking on zig-zags or double yellow lines, not blocking people’s driveways, not double-parking and avoiding parking in bus stops.
Run A Campaign.
Reinforce the health benefits of not driving to school, just like this school did in Broxbourne. The school’s parking campaign aimed to change parents’ attitudes and habits by encouraging walking and cycling to school. It also increased parking enforcement outside its school – and staff passed registration numbers of persistent offenders to the council for further action.
Park And Stride.
If parking spaces around school are at a premium, consider canvassing parents to join in with a ‘park and stride’ mentality, like the one introduced by Meadowbank Primary School. Point them in the direction of the nearest local car park, or simply advise them to park a good distance away from school and walk the last five or 10 minutes of the journey (this counts towards your recommended 30 minutes of daily exercise, too).
Make A Report.
There’s information on most council’s websites on how to report problem parking. In Brighton and Hove, for example, people are urged to request Civil Enforcement Officers to attend school. Officers can issue instant Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) to drivers stopping on the parking restrictions outside schools. You can also report anti-social driving to the police on their non-emergency number 101, or use Operation Crackdown.
Use Banners And Signs.
Brighton and Hove council has a range of banners schools use to highlight the dangers to parents. Use their examples as inspiration to make your own – they also recommend using ‘A’ boards/minicades, and ‘park safely’ flyers.